Mrs. Ellis

A Little About Mrs. Ellis I was born and raised here in the Bay Area. I have three boys at home. Family is really important to me; my parents, brother and his family live about 10 minutes away from me. This is my 17 th year teaching elementary school. I just earned my Masters in Education for Curriculum and Instruction: Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Attendance If you child is absent please call our school’s attendance ex: 53901

Best Ways to reach me: Message me through ClassDojo. me: Leave me a message ex: Parent-Teacher Communication is vital. I try very hard to answer questions and messages the day that they are asked. With that in mind sometimes things come up and it may take me a little more time to reply.

Websites and Class News 1.Our class website is Here you can find updated information and happenings about our class. On the “Announcements” page you can subscribe to the “NewsFlash” and you will receive an or text when I have updated the Announcement page. 2.ClassDojo: I will send quick messages or reminders to communicate with all parents as a group or individually.

Board Policy: 1st and 2nd grade homework will be approximately minutes per evening, or minutes per week. These minutes are based on time estimated for an average student working at an average pace. Considerations are made for students with special needs. Each week a homework packet and cover sheet will be sent out detailing the week’s Homework. Please pace your child, even if they can finish it in one night. Having a little homework every night builds good study habits and responsibility. GRADING Our class will be utilizing the Common Core Standards. The report card will report out on important essential standards identified by FUSD. “S” reflects that satisfactory progress has been made and “N” reflects needing addition practice and support.

Friday Folders will be sent home on Friday. They should be returned on Monday. Friday Folders will contain school news and community notices. D.O.G Folders will act as homework folders as well as contain corrected work and notes from the classroom. Our class needs volunteer help to run smoothly. Sign up on the volunteer poster. When entering campus while school is in session please sign in at the office. Birthdays: We love to celebrate birthdays. Please make sure if you are sending in goodies that the school-wide NO FOOD policy is followed. Extra clothes in your child’s backpack is a great idea in case of a bathroom accident.

Class Expectations: Be safe, responsible, respectful, and ready to learn. Consequences: 1. Loss of Dojo points 2. Yellow slip and a recess time out 3. message or call Home 4. Office referral for serious offences. Rewards: Dojo Points, Brag Tags, sending a message or note home about excellent behavior. We have been practicing kindness acting as bucket fillers. The idea of it is that everyone walks around with an invisible bucket. When your bucket is full you feel great. When your bucket is empty you don’t feel so great. Acts of kindness and treating one another kindly helps to keep our bucket full.

The Daily Five The Daily Five is a literacy structure that teaches independence and gives students the skills needed to create a lifetime love of reading and writing. The Daily Five consists of five tasks. The five tasks include: 1. Read to Self 2. Listen to Someone Read 3. Listen to Reading 4. Work on Writing 5. Word Work When all five tasks have been introduced and the students are fully engaged I will be able to work with small groups

Writer’s Workshop Students will write everyday. Topics are flexible. Mini-lessons help shape and teach students writing skills and genres Students are continuously working on old and new writing. Students are able to conference with their peers as well as myself to facilitate growth in their writing.

Like reading the Math block will follow the same independent tasks. For math it’s called The Daily Three. The tasks for math include: 1.Math By Myself 2.Math with Someone 3.Math Writing After the main lesson is taught students will participate in these tasks to further deepen their understanding of the concepts taught in a fun and engaging way.

The Science Curriculum is in transition from the California State Standards to Next Generation Science Standards. This year for the most part we will follow the California State Standards while adding in a few of the new ones when more materials become available to do so. Social Studies is often not taught in isolation. Often times the social studies content is given through stories read in class and thematic units of study. At times we will be using the specific social studies curriculum, its content is limited and that is why it is not used alone to teach social studies.

Thank you very much for your continued support at home. Please remember to check out of book grant on Donorchoose.org to donate “Just Right Books” to our classroom. Go to Donorschoose.org and search for the project titled: Reading Everything in Sight! This week until September 19 th if you use the code SPARK during checkout your donation dollars will be doubled. Thank you to Adhya and Karthik for already donating to our Donorschoose Project.